Live Strong for Lance

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 – Lance Armstrong’s resounding, record-setting sixth Tour de France victory a few days ago was yet another demonstration of this man’s fortitude and resolve.  I mean, think about it.  His exploits in the saddle are near miraculous, given the fact that just eight years ago, he was far from riding high, confronted by a formidable foe not even he could be expected to be ready for: cancer.  But to say Lance has survived the disease would be an understatement.  He has thrived since his diagnosis, both on and off his bike, establishing himself as one of the top cyclists in the world – ever – and speaking up on behalf of cancer prevention and survivorship as founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF). 

Of course, if anyone has an inspirational message to deliver, it’s Lance, which is just what he did last week in France as a Tour winner yet again, but also in an impeccably timed – and wonderfully crafted – direct mail fundraising appeal I received from his eponymously named foundation.  Talk about striking while the iron’s hot!  Just several days before he was crowned victor once more on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, he was inviting LAF donors and prospects like me to “help spread the LIVE STRONG message of hope in the fight against cancer!” 

In a surprisingly succinct, albeit convincing, message, the 32-year-old champion wrote, “To raise funds for the LAF’s work, and to carry our message of hope further, we’ve launched an exciting campaign to distribute yellow wristbands bearing our motto, LIVE STRONG.  I’ll be wearing mine as I ride this summer, and I hope you’ll see thousands of spectators along the way wearing them too.  Ultimately, we want five million people worldwide to wear LIVE STRONG yellow wristbands.” 

That’s a lot of wristbands, sure, but you won’t find me betting against Lance.  No way.  After all, if anyone can turn an impossible dream into a reality, it’s him.    

Viral Marketing Gone Good
 
Wednesday, July 21, 2004 – Chances are you’ve already seen the Flash parody of the Woody Guthrie folk song, “This Land Is Your Land,” that’s been racing its way across the Internet this week at lightning-like speed.  My good friend, Michael Chinnici, emailed it to me a few days ago, and initially I didn’t think twice about it.  Spoofing President Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, it’s amusing, sure.  But at first glance, I though it was just another joke du jour encumbering my Inbox.  However, on second thought, turns out this clip (produced by the Los Angeles-based animation studio, JibJab) is an instant classic, the perfect example of viral marketing gone good.  So good, in fact, that JibJab is getting so many hits on its Web site that its principals, brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, are practically crying “uncle” in their blog, The JibJab Times, writing:  “You people dang near blew the lid off our server yesterday!  Slow down!  There’s enough to go around for everyone.  We promise.”  Talk about a good problem to have on your hands!  Coincidentally, the phenomenal success of this satirical cartoon-cum-promotional vehicle for JibJab couldn’t be more consistent with Nate Elliot’s point in his recent article about viral marketing on The ClickZ Network, where he argues, “The real conduit for viral campaigns, when they are noticed, is the media.  Reporters get the message out, drive the interest and traffic.”  After all, in just the last few days alone, the brothers Spiridellis have made appearances on FOX News, CNBC’s Squawk Box, The Today Show and who knows how many other television news shows, not to mention the countless articles that have been written about them across this great land.  The rub lies, of course, in how much all this fame will translate into fortune.             

Marketing Miscellany

Wednesday, July 14, 2004 – Say cell phones, and my first thought is Nextel — probably because I’m hooked on a clever, little walkie-talkie feature called Direct Connect. But now I have another reason to be enamored of this wireless communications behemoth: its new tagline, “Done,” which, in one four-letter verb, speaks volumes….However, just because I like it doesn’t mean Thomas L. Collins wouldn’t be able to suggest a better alternative. After all, perhaps no direct marketer out there has a more critical — and more experienced — eye than Thomas, “The Makeover Maven” columnist for DIRECT magazine. Seriously! Read him — and reap….I have to hand it to the folks at the United States Postal Service for practicing what they preach in a glossy, tri-fold self-mailer that came to my attention recently, asking members of their constituency to send for a free “Success with Direct Mail” kit. Clearly, they’re of the mind — rightly so — that what goes around comes around….Which is obviously the same school of thought that the Jiffy Lube people followed in a simple, yet near-flawlessly executed piece of mail they sent me after I brought my Honda Element in for routine maintenance. “Thanks for choosing Jiffy Lube. We hope your recent oil change was a breath of fresh air,” read the copy, alluding to the enclosed air freshener emblazoned with the Jiffy Lube logo and the sentence, “see you in 3,000 miles.” Talk about closing the loop! Even if it is just an old-school tchotchke, an air freshener as a back-end premium is a splendid stroke of direct marketing genius….And finally, the latest front-end premium to be included with a McDonald’s Happy Meal is one of Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam Tour toys, which can’t help but say something about the mainstream acceptance and “legitimization” of skateboarding. My two sons, Scott (8) and Ben (5), are totally into this action sport, so yes, a story like this is right up my alley, but I can’t imagine how thrilled the staff of The Charles River Conservancy is to see skateboarding receive such widespread play. The Conservancy, a nonprofit advocacy group, hopes to raise $1.1 million for the design and construction of a world-class, 40,000 square-foot skatepark on the banks of the Charles River in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, and any buzz generated by this deal between legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk and McDonald’s can only help their cause.

12 Ways You Can Be a Direct Marketing Hero

Thursday, July 8, 2004 – Continuing a longstanding agency tradition, Yellowfin Direct Marketing is just days away from the release of our new fiscal year calendar, designed both as a useful time management tool (for those on the receiving end) and as a timely, self-promotional vehicle (for us).

That’s right, in the spirit of practicing what we preach, this calendar is offer-laden, information-packed and just begging for a response all year long. (It’s also — hint, hint — absolutely free to anyone for the asking.)

Each month of the calendar features a great, little tip on how to “take your organization’s direct marketing initiatives to the next highest level.”

Along with this colorful, new wall calendar, we’ve included a dozen different coupons, each one good for one free half-hour consultation with any one of us here at Yellowfin. As the cover letter that accompanies the calendar says, “if you have a question about mailing lists, July is the month to get in touch with us. If you want to talk about using emotion to trigger a favorable response, your free consultation is scheduled for August. Deepening the relationship between you and your existing customer or donor base? Let’s talk in September. And so on and so forth.”

This is no everyday calendar, let me tell you. This is 12 proven ways you can be a real direct marketing superhero — and, if I do say so myself, a darn good example of how to jumpstart a dialogue with those about whom you care deeply.